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Exercise #207 - Body Language

Your character's eyes, eyebrows, forehead, lips, neck, hands, torso, feet - in short, the whole body - how would it react in the following situations?

a three year old girl, on seeing a neighbor's very small and gentle dog

same girl, when that dog wags its tail and comes up and gives her a kiss

a senior vice president of a major investment bank who has just heard that his long-time rival's fourth wife has left him for the owner of a miniature golf course by the freeway

a ninety-year old woman surrounded by her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, when presented with her birthday cake

1, 2, 3, GO!
Guys, I'm sick. I went to the doctor today, and it turns out that I have tonsillitis (because apparently you can get that when you're 27 years old... I had always thought it was a childhood thing).

This is how I feel right now.

It started as a slight tickle in the back of my throat this past Wednesday or Thursday. That led to persistent dry coughing which then resulted in hoarseness and lots of mucus (you're welcome for the visual).

Honestly, I thought it was just really bad allergies. I didn't feel sickly, and the only thing bothering me was this dumb cough. Then Sunday came around.

And boy, did it ever come around with a vengeance...

I woke up and immediately regretted it. I had a headache (a scintillating scotoma at that), and I was freezing, indicating that I had a fever. Great.

Initially, I had planned on going to the nearest CVS to buy your basic cold remedies: NyQuil, DayQuil, ibuprofen, cough lozenges, etc... But no. I made the mistake of calling MomLady on my way to the pharmacy.

"You need to go to the doctor," she said.

"I have you. Why do I need to go to the doctor?" My voice creaked over the phone.

SIDE NOTE: For those of you who are unfamiliar with the brilliant personage that is my mother, she is a Nurse Practitioner (Pops was also in the medical field and is a retired Colon & Rectal Surgeon), and, as such, has doled out medical advice for me since I was a wee bairn. Growing up, I spent little to no time in the doctor's office, because MomLady and Pops always provided their services and expertise free of charge. Those are some mad perks, yo.

MomLady convinced me to go to the CVS MinuteClinic much to my chagrin, and I guess that was probably for the best. Approximately 1 hour later, I headed home with an armful of medication and the knowledge that my tonsils were stupid.

Let it also be known that my esophageal passage is quite a bit smaller than most people's for some reason unbeknownst to me, so any time I get an upper respiratory ailment (be it a head cold or even the smallest hint of the sniffles), it immediately blows up in my face. I suddenly find myself in the throes of a life or death disease, unable to breathe or speak without sounding like Darth Vader. The previous sentence *might* be slightly hyperbolic, but it does get pretty bad on occasion.

That being said, I'm too tired / lazy to do this week's writing exercise. I do realize that, in the time I took to write up this post, I probably could have done the exercise, but... shut up. I don't care right now. My throat hurts, and I don't want to think about anything other than sleeping and getting rid of this 100-degree fever.

Without further ado, the One-Eyed, One-Horned, Flying, Purple People Eater by Sheb Wooley:

Great, huh? I don't remember when I was first introduced to this all-sorts-of-wonderful song, but I'm pretty sure it was care of my Mom. She definitely has provided quite a bit of the humor in my life, and I'm sure she's one of the big reasons…

Exercise #83 : "Yellow List"
What things are yellow? Make a list. At the end of the five minutes, note the three you find most curious.
Ah, yellow. One of my least favorite colors. I mean, it's nice and all, but there are so many versions of this color that are simply eye-raping. Anyways, on with the list.